Twin Wolves
by lthom950
Summary: A young boy is given no choice but to become a werewolf. In the process, his closest childhood friend is killed and so is his mother. When he comes of age, he joins the companions and quickly rises through their ranks. Hircine sees strength in the boy, and watches his progress as a warrior and a hunter.
1. The Accident

**My attempt at a Companions fan fiction. Hope you enjoy.**

"Come on, Brandr." She had said. "I want to be there when they arrive!"

We ran at a child's pace, our young legs bounding up the staircase by the street merchants that often set up down in the plaza below. The two of us then made our way around the once magnificent Gildergleam.

To our right was where my young friend Yoki was taking me, the mead hall, Jorrvakar. It was shaped like an upside down ship. The building was almost menacing, not just because of its size, but because of the sharp pinging sounds of iron against iron that came from behind it. Yoki and I ran to the doors and I reached to pull them open. She jumped in front of me and prevented me from entering.

"What are you doing!?" I hissed through clenched teeth.

"Are you mad!?" She yelled. "We can't go through the front doors! We'll get caught! Follow me, I know where we can hide."

She began to sneak around the building, often stopping me because she thought someone was coming, when in reality no one was even there to catch us. When she knew the coast was clear, she high-tailed it to the rock on which the Skyforge stood, her long blonde hair waving in her face and almost preventing her from being able to see.

Yoki put her hand on the cold rock and did one last check to make sure we wouldn't be caught before she pressed on a button hidden in the stone. A hidden door slid open, and Yoki dragged me inside.

Inside was a small cavern, that wasn't the coziest place on the face of Nirn. In the middle of our rocky surroundings was an altar that seemed to have been carved from the rock. Yoki walked up next to it and did a quick spin, looking around the cavern. "Neat isn't it?" She said.

"What is this place?" I asked. "And how'd you even find it?"

Yoki grinned mischievously. "This is the Underforge. I saw Kodlak and Aela come in here the other day with one of the newer members. That was the day the werewolf attacked." She said the word werewolf with a light in her eyes as if she was fantasying what it would like to be one of those creatures.

"Did the werewolf come out of here?" I asked, the cavern beginning to feel even less cozy.

"Yes."

A cold chill ran down my back. "Yoki I don't think we should be here. Maybe we should wait somewhere else for them to return from Dustman's Cairn. I don't like this place."

She gave me a look made of pure irritation. "Brandr, Farkas and Bayde aren't just going to Jorrvaskar. They're coming here. I overheard Aela discussing with Vilkas that Bayde was going to be initiated into the Circle. The circle is the part of the Companions that are all werewolves."

I thought about what she said for a moment. "Wait, so Aela, Vilkas, all of them… Their werewolves?"

Yoki giggled. "I knew you had some brains in you. Now we need to hide, they'll be here soon."

My friend ran to a part of the cavern I hadn't noticed yet. There was a tunnel far to the right that looked like it lead outside. We went halfway down the tunnel before deciding to hide behind some rocks. We waited playing dumb games like Black Marsh is Harsh, where we took turns daring each other to do small little things to embarrass each other. Occasionally a rock would find its way into my boots while we sat there and even once I found a spider trying to make its way down my cloth shirt, which furthered my dislike for the place.

I was about ready to give up and leave when I heard the sound of the stone door sliding open. Yoki and I hid in place and watched as the three companions entered the room. They all circled the room and spoke one to another, but the words they said were lost because of how far we were hiding.

One of the companions motioned to a woman, who I assumed was Aela. The woman nodded and began shaking uncontrollably. Fur grew from spots on her body and her muscles swelled. She appeared to be surrounded by a thick shadow, which disappeared when her transformation was complete. She let out a loud howl, which chilled my very bones.

A male companion, wearing golden armor, motioned for the beast to stick out her hand. She obliged and the man took a large cut out of her arm, and dripped the blood into the altar. The third man was younger than the two, and was obviously nervous, even from where we sat. He bent over the altar and cupped his hands and stuck them into the crimson liquid. He brought the blood to his mouth and took a long drink.

Before too long, he went through the same transformation process as Aela, but his appeared to be more violent and less controlled. The transformation wasn't even complete when he ran out of the cavern followed by Aela and who I assumed was Vilkas.

When they left, Yoki sprung to her feet skipped over to the altar. She took two bottles from a satchel that hung at her waist and filled them full with the liquid.

"Yoki! What are you doing?!" I yelled from my hiding spot. "They're going to be back soon. What are you doing with that?"

She said nothing but motioned for me to come by her. I obliged and came out of my hiding spot to go speak with her. Before I even got within five feet of my friend she ran out of the cavern, nearly leaving me behind.

I followed her, barely able to catch up. Outside, there was blood splattered on the ground and broken chairs and tables, like there had been a great fight. Yoki ran down past the Gildergleam into the Cloud district, where she and her mother lived. I followed her, winding my way through the streets in order to get to her home. When I arrived, the young woman was standing the doorway, waiting for me. She grabbed me by the collar of the shirt and pulled me inside.

"Yoki what was-" I turned to face her and found her holding the bottles inches away from my face.

"Drink up." She said, tossing me the bottle and pulling the cork off of hers. She lifted her bottle up, ready to down the contents within when I stopped her.

"Yoki wait!" I slid the bottle into my shirt.

She stopped. "What!" She moaned.

"Didn't you see the blood? Outside of the cavern did you see the blood? That companion couldn't control himself. What makes you think you can?"

Yoki shrugged. She raised the bottle to her mouth and drank the entire contents. She began shaking, and going through the same transformation as the two companions. I stepped back, fear beginning to overwhelm me.

Yoki stood before me. Her eyes looked down at me, full of pure savagery. Her fingers flexed as she was trying to grow comfortable in her new form. A deep growling sound came from the back of her throat. I slowly made my way to the stairs, trying to put as much distance as I could between us.

She didn't seem to notice me. She was busy in her new body, not even paying attention to her surroundings. I stepped on the stairs, and a very audible creaking sound rung through the home. Yoki looked my way, her growl becoming a roar.

I ran up the stairs, not even bothering to look behind me. I made my way to her room and locked myself inside. Her bed was up against the wall by the door, and some dressers sat next to it. I pushed them in front of the door and sat on the floor in the middle of the room, cradling my legs in my arms. A sharp clawing sound came from outside, and the door swayed with every hit. Chunks of wood fell, and I could see the beast outside.

By the Nine, I was going to die. I prayed to every deity I knew, whether he or she was aedra or daedra, I didn't care. I just needed someone to save me. As I sat there, I grew aware of a lump that sat on my chest. The bottle was still there.

I reached down my shirt and pulled out the bottle. I took another look outside. The door was now nothing but a few slivers. Yoki would be inside at any moment. I had no other choice but to drink up or die. I opened the bottle and downed the contents.

After that everything was a blur. I didn't know what had happened. I awoke in a field outside of the city, my clothes being very much absent. It was quite embarrassing being found so very open, but once I heard of the news I didn't care anymore. I was found by some of the city guard, who told me of two werewolf attacks in town. One of the wolves went on a rampage through town, killing multiple people, one of which was my mother. The other was found dead in a house. It was Yoki. I had killed my best friend and quite possibly my own mother. I cried for days after that night. Sometimes I still wake up crying.

**That's it. Hope you liked it. I'll try to post another chapter soon. Please Favorite, Follow, and/or leave a review.**


	2. Training

**Fast forward, like, 20 years.**

Light flooded the room as our crazed mentor charged through the door. I awoke still feeling drowsy, and simply rolled around away from the door. My efforts to stay asleep were meaningless however, because the old man had grabbed a pot on his way down, and began hitting it repeatedly with his mace, filling our dorm room with the horrible sound.

I reluctantly sat up and tried to ease my way back to the land of the living, but my mentor didn't have the patience for a slow getting up. He took my arm and pulled me up right, almost throwing me straight off the bed to the ground. I managed to catch my balance before I fell and simply staggered a couple of steps. There was no fighting for another few minutes of rest. I was defeated.

I made my way to the wardrobe that held my day clothes, and began dressing. There was no privacy in Jorrvaskar. We all ate together, fought together, and even slept in the same room together. I learned to get good at sleeping in almost any condition, because this room was often filled with snoring. I once thought the snoring was a dragon soaring outside, but it simply turned out to be my shield-brother, Hrard Stormblood.

Once my steel armor was fastened correctly and my Skyforge steel sword was strapped at my waist, I made my way upstairs to the dining hall. Bayde, our mentor, made us eat a quick breakfast of bread and goat cheese before rushing us outside. Hrard was the last one out, trying to quickly put in a few extra bites of cheese.

Once we were all out in the yard, I saw that light hadn't even made its way above the Skyforge. There was no way it could be even past six. The old man sure liked to get up early. He rushed us all in line and paced in front of us, watching for the perfect training dummy to warm-up on. He ultimately decided on a Khajiit by the name of, Scar De-Cot, who stood in the middle of our formation. The cat's tail quivered as he stepped forward to face the seasoned warrior.

The two stood facing each other. There weapons weren't drawn, because they would not yet be using them. We always started training with a few fist-fights. Bayde was always the one who was the least sore afterwards, simply because he was the one dealing out the most bruises.

Bayde started the fight, and mocked the Khajiit into throwing the first punch. Bayde dodged it and grabbed the cat by his wrist. He heaved Scar over his back and threw him to the ground on his furry chest. The expression on his face was full of both pain and surprise, which looked strange on his feline features. Hrard had to stifle a laugh.

While his opponent was still gasping for breath on the ground, Bayde turned back to the line. "Who's next?" He asked. A Nord with a long black beard and braided hair stepped forward. Although the Nord fought longer than the Khajiit, it still ended the same; with him lying on the ground gasping for breath.

He went down the line, fighting all of us whelps one at a time. Eventually, Hrard and I were the last two recruits left to deal with. When he was ready, Bayde motioned for me to come forward. He said, "Don't go easy on me whelp. I like fights. A lot." He grinned. "Ready? Go. What are you waiting for, let's get this show on the road."

I watched him, like a bird eyeing its prey. I saw his every move, and looked for any weakness he had. I noticed his golden armor had many places I could wrap my hand tightly around. I lunged forward and grabbed onto one of the wolf ornaments on his breastplate. I slid my other arm down and around his shoulder. I pulled on him and tried to throw him away from me, make him fall flat on his face like he had made the Khajiit and Nord do. He didn't even budge. The armor made him too heavy.

He laughed and grabbed my arm from off his shoulder. He twisted my wrist sharply, and pulled me to the ground close to him. I winced in pain as he lowered his head down to whisper I my ear, "You have learned nothing yet." He then threw me back to the line. I stumbled and fell, landing right in a pile of dishes by the tables set up outside. The other whelps laughed as Bayde sat back with a slight grin on his face. "Next!" He yelled. I stood up and got back in line.

Hrard stepped forward, which seemed to make the ground shake. The man was nearly seven feet tall, which easily made him the tallest person I knew. I was short compared to him, but I wouldn't consider myself to be tiny.

Bayde seemed ecstatic as his new enemy walked forward. The two stood together for a moment, admiring one another. Then the fight began. Bayde threw the first punch, which landed squarely on Hrard's jaw. His head rotated slightly, but other than that he didn't seem fazed.

Hrard threw the second punch, which hit Bayde right in the nose. A sharp cracking sound was heard, and the old man fell backwards. He held his arms to his nose and groaned in pain. Some of the whelps ran out to help him, and found his nose broken. Two whelps walked him inside.

A few whelps walked over and congratulated Hrard on how well he did. The Nord wasn't one for boasting, and shrugged off the majority of the compliments he received.

We waited in the yard for our mentor to return, but he never did. When the doors to the hall opened, we all expected Bayde to be standing there. But he wasn't. In his place was an older woman, whose red hair was now being replaced by splotches of white. She wore strange armor that was similar to the ones I saw on draugr. The armor exposed more of her than I needed to see.

When the woman walked outside she stood silently among the recruits that now sat around the yard chatting. As more whelps noticed her, the talking grew quieter until there was no noise at all. She walked over to Hrard, who now sat among the majority of the recruits at one of the tables in the yard. "Are you the one that broke Bayde's nose?"

"Yes, Harbinger." The blonde Nord gulped.

The woman laughed. "No need for formality Shield-Brother. Call me by my name, or don't say anything at all." She grinned.

"Yes, Aela." The man corrected himself.

"Better. Thank you. I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets to give Bayde a lesson in humility"

Aela turned around. It was strange seeing her out in the yard. She spent most of her time in her room, or out in the woods hunting. She always seemed sad, like she was trying to get over the loss of loved one.

While I was busy eyeing the seasoned warrior, she had begun walking my way. I currently sat by the hidden underforge, and thought she was just going up to talk to the smith, but when she didn't turn away, I realized she was walking to me. I stood up straight, preparing for the encounter.

"Hello brother." She greeted me.

"Hello."

"Mistake me if I'm wrong, but when I walked outside, you noticed me right away, did you not?"

The question threw me off guard. "I did…"

"Why is that?"

I thought for a moment. "I guess I was just paying attention."

"Hmm…" That was all she said. She eyed me carefully, then nodded.

"Grab the bow off the counter and follow me."

"Okay."

I grabbed the bow Aela pointed out and followed her to where some training dummies were in the yard. Aela had grabbed some arrows and was waiting for me. As I approached she tossed the quiver to me. I had to drop the bow in order to catch them.

I came and stood next to her, and could see all my shield-brothers watching and whispering. I could only imagine the things they were saying. Aela watched me, studying me with a hunter's eye. It made me feel uneasy, and she must have noticed how uncomfortable I felt because she soon stopped. "Grab the bow." She commanded. "I want you to hit that dummy right in the chest. Can you do that?"

"I'll try." I muttered. I pulled the bow up and put an arrow in place. I was about to release when Aela startled me.

"Now remember breathing here is important." I jumped, the arrow imbedding itself in the wall behind the dummies. The recruits laughed. I cursed under my breath.

I pulled another arrow up, watching my breath closely. I released and hit the dummy in the chest, not in the middle but slightly off to the right. "Good." Aela complimented me. "Two more."

The arrows were at my feet, and I bent over to grab one when something was pulled over my face and tied behind my head. "I want you to do it blindfolded."

"What?!" Her request was absurd. I couldn't do it blindfolded. I might kill someone.

"Believe in yourself." Aela said as softly as the Harbinger got. "You can do it."

I didn't say anything. I felt around for the string of the hunting bow and nocked the arrow. I released and heard a soft thud. 'Well, at least I hit the target.' I thought.

A hard wooden stick poked me in the head. I reached up and found an arrow being handed to me. I put in place, pulled back and released. This time I heard the sound of wood splinting. 'Great, I broke the dummy.'

I pulled the blindfold off and the sudden brightness stunned me. I first looked at the shady area my friends sat under so my eyes could adjust to that first, and found that their mouths all hung open wide. I looked back at the dummy and saw what they were staring at. Not only had I kept all my arrows in the same general area, but I had also hit another arrow with my last one.

I turned to Aela, who seemed to smirk. "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all."

**Cool? I thought so. Anyways, hope you liked it. That's all that matters.**


	3. Blood

**Sorry about how late this update is. I got busy with my personal life. I had to cut this chapter short because it was getting longer than I wanted it too. I'll post the rest of it next time I update.**

_Blood. All I smelled was blood. The sweet iron smell. The pounding, throbbing sound of blood filled the air. The sound was coming from them, those horned beasts. They galloped through the trees. I loved stag. They tasted delicious, almost succulent. _

_ I ran after them. No. Not ran. I charged. Chased. My claws tore up the ground and the trees. It tore up their flesh. It tore them clean open. I ate its flesh. That stag. It was easy killing it. Not very fast, to me at least. I devoured that stag. It was tasty. So… Tasty._

_ The pounding sound was still there. Its waves bounced around in my ears. I needed it to stop. Only I could stop it. I tore open my prey more. Saw the source of the sound. Although it didn't appear pounding… or throbbing. Then why could I still hear it? Was it calling to me? Searching for me? Wanting me? I didn't know. It tasted good though._

_ The sound lessoned. It wasn't gone. Just quieter. It came from the woods. I could smell it. Taste the remnants of the last kill in my mouth. I began to move towards it when I heard it behind me. This one smelled different. It smelled sweeter. Cleaner._

_ I turned back. The sound was coming from the road. I heard singing. Laughing. Talking. Then I heard screaming. Gagging. Crying. It was sweet. So sweet. _

_ There was three. Three hearts. Or at least I thought there was three. When the first few died I heard a fourth. Quieter and sweeter. Younger. Much younger. She was blonde. A familiar blonde. Very young and so very familiar. I knew her. Swore on it. But where? I stepped toward her cautiously. More cautiously than I, a beast, should have been able too. She looked at me, her eyes like the tides. So familiar. It was too late that realized how I knew her. I pulled my arm back so I could tear my way to my prize .That was when she spoke._

_ Her voice was sweet and soft. If silk could talk it would sound like her voice. "Was this how it was?" She asked. "Is this how you murdered me?"_

_ I stood there. I was frozen. Paralyzed. It was my friend. My dear, sweet friend. So sweet…_

_ "Well?" She demanded an answer. "Was this how it was? Is this how you killed me, your so called best friend?" Her voice was harsher now. It was in my head. Her mouth didn't move. Not so sweet. Mean. Evil. Not so sweet._

_ "Fine. I already know the answer anyways. Just watch. I'll share the answer with you." I began to move, but something was moving me. My claws grew. My muscles swelled. She smelled sweet again. But I didn't want to eat anymore. I did anyways. Her heart. So sweet…_

"Brandr?" My eyes drifted open. I was writhing on the floor. Scar sat over me, eyeing me carefully. "Are you okay?" The Khajiit wasn't the only one awake. Nor was he the only one watching. Hrard was also awake, and so were several other whelps.

I sat up. "I'm fine." I replied. "Just a bad dream."

The cat chuckled, something a Khajiit should always avoid to do. The resulting sound was revolting. "I can see that." He hissed. "Do you want to talk about it? Maybe you can come over here and cuddle? We can talk about our feelings and what scares us? I myself am afraid of little girls, just like yourself. What was it he said? Yoki? Oh, Yoki please! I don't want to hurt you!" He laughed again.

I grabbed a plate from off my dresser and threw it at Scar. It hit him in the forehead. He yowled and rubbed his head for a moment before leaping out of his covers. He made his way towards my bed, preparing for a fight. I grabbed a tankard from next to where the plate had sat moments before. I could use it as a blunt weapon. Didn't care if a fight was honorable or not. I fought for survival, and that meant sometimes fighting dirty.

Before I could make much use of my cup turned fist weapon, Hrard had stood up and gotten in between us. Hrard was one of those that believed in the ancient Nord customs of fighting honorably, and all that other Nord crap. I was born a Nord from a family of pure Nords, but my family was from Bruma. My how many greats-grandmother, Edla Dark-Heart, moved to Bruma after something drove her and her husband from Skyrim. The family then adopted the customs of good ol' cosmopolitan Cyrodiil where people did anything to protect their fair share of gold. I didn't have Hrard's customs. I didn't want them, but I also didn't want to argue with the giant about stopping me.

"Hey!" Hrard bellowed. "No need for this. You can settle this some other time. Right now, we need to get ready for training tomorrow. Bayde will be handing out contracts afterwards, and if you guys start fighting now he'll just hand them off to some senior companion and punish the rest of us."

He looked between us. Neither of us had anything to say. He finished by proceeding to lay back down, effectively finishing whatever argument Scar and I had. We followed in Hrard's footsteps and decided to get back to bed ourselves.

That morning we were all out of bed by the time Bayde came down to wake us up, but that didn't mean he didn't proceed to beat a pot like it was a drum. We all dressed to the sweet music of our trainer, who didn't seem to grow tired of the sound.

The rest of the morning followed the usual routine, with a few slight adjustments. We all went to the dining hall and ate a quick meal before running outside to train. We no longer started training with fights. Bayde's nose didn't look like he could take another hit. Instead, Bayde had us run around the yard in the heaviest armor we could lift onto our shoulders. It was exhausting but manageable.

We proceeded in our usual training exercises, each of us practicing our preferred method of combat. I tried my hand at the bow again, although I seemed to be a bit out of sorts. I missed the target more times than I didn't.

Afterwards, Bayde rallied the whelps and we divided the contracts. Since this was our first contract, he divided us all into groups of two. I had the luck of getting Scar as my Shield-Brother. It was going to be a long trip to Windhelm with the whiny cat.

Scar and I were in charge of wiping out a cave full of spiders outside of the oldest city in Skyrim. I was surprised Scar didn't turn tail and run when Bayde gave us the report. On his first day in Jorrvaskar, Scar found a spider in his bed and nearly wet his trousers. That was almost six months ago, and no one had let him forget it.

Bayde paired Hrard with another Nord who was almost equal in size to him. Their job was to go to Korvanjund and deal with bandits that were held up there. Apparently the chief had been kidnapping innocent girls and holding them for ransom there. He had to go kill the bandits and free the girls. Seemed easy for two giants with equally giant hammers.

Given the circumstances of the contract, Hrard seemed oddly excited. His parents had once served in the Stormcloak army, and he was excited to see one of the battlegrounds upon which they fought. Korvanjund was a notable victory for the rebels. There they had found the Jagged Crown for Ulfric. The battle was nearly thirty years ago, and the imperials that were there were slaughtered.

Thirty years and the war between the Empire and the Stormcloaks was still raging. Although the war slowed down once the Stormcloaks captured Whiterun. That was around the time the dragons returned and the Dragonborn returned with them. The war was background noise to the dragon threat. Taking care of villages being burnt to the ground was more important than free worship over a ridiculous god by the name of Talos. Worshipping Talos was as pointless as it would be to worship Ysgramor.

After Bayde dismissed us, Hrard pulled me aside and said he thought it would be a good idea for the four of us to travel together. Korvanjund was on the way to Stillborn Cave, where scar and I were headed. I was reluctant at first. I really didn't want to hear about any war stories Hrard's parents had told him as bedtime stories. The Nord was so persistent however, that I eventually accepted.

"Great." He said. "We'll leave as soon as the four of us are packed." He stuck out his hand and gave me a handshake so firm my knuckles nearly imploded.

"Sure thing." I nodded. This trip was going to be even longer than I thought.


End file.
